Francis’s or Francis’?

Francis’s, is the singular possessive form for Francis. If you are following the Chicago manual of style, use Francis’s. E.g., “The book on the shelf is Francis’s favorite.” Also Francis’ is another singular possessive form for  Francis. You should use Francis’ when you are following the AP stylebook.

Let’s look at the chart below that gives us a helpful overview of different forms of Francis

Form	Example
Singular	Francis
Plural ( if last name)	Francises
Singular possessive	Francis’s or Francis’
Plural  possessive	Francises’

You  can see from the chat that Francis has two singular possessive forms. You make one form by adding an apostrophe and another one by adding an apostrophe and an ‘s’ at the end.

Let’s look at the different examples from the chart in context

Singular: Francis is a talented musician.

Plural: I met the Francises at the event.

Singular possessive: Francis’s guitar skills are impressive.

Singular possessive:I have a copy of Francis’ latest novel on my bookshelf.

Plural  possessive:I attended the Francises’ party last weekend

According to the AP stylebook, Francis’ is the form to use. However, the Chicago manual of styles stipulates that you use  Fancis’s with an apostrophe and an ‘s’.

 Furthermore, if you are referring to  multiple people named Francis  you should use the plural “Fancises’. Sometimes you will use it when the last name is Francis and you are referring to the family members.

Take a look at this example;

• The Francises host an annual charity event to support local causes.

For the plural possessive form for Francis, see how it is used in the next examples below;

• The Francises‘ contributions to the community were celebrated at the event.

Note that in both cases we are required to put “the” before the plural and plural possessive forms.

Continue reading the article to learn more about the possessive forms for Francis as we explain further.

Francis’s

Francis’s is the standard singular possessive form for Francis. You will use this form to indicate that something belongs to Francis……

• The success of the project can be attributed to Francis’s guidance.
• The schedule for the conference is on Francis’s calendar.

Francis’s is the more common form of the two possessives according to google Ngram and this is the form that is also endorsed by the Chicago manual of style.

However, you might want to remove the ‘s’ if the following word starts with ‘s’. This practice is acceptable by both the AP stylebook and the chicago manual of style

Francis’

Francis’ is another correct singular possessive form for Francis. You use it also when you are referring to ownership. 

See example below

• The keys to the office are on Francis’ desk.
• The recipe for the delicious cake is in Francis’ cookbook.

It Was the more common form before the 1990s according to Google Ngram

Furthermore, Francis’ is the form  that is endorsed by the AP stylebook.

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